Aaron Judge, Paul Goldschmidt Win MVP Awards

Aaron Judge had a record-setting season for the New York Yankees, while Paul Goldschmidt thrived for the St. Louis Cardinals.

Yankees free agent outfielder Aaron Judge and Cardinals first baseman Paul Goldschmidt won their first Most Valuable Player Awards on Thursday night, taking home the trophies after votes that weren’t particularly close.

Judge received 28 of 30 first-place votes after resetting the American League and Yankees single-season home run records with 62 longballs in 2022. The 30-year-old outfielder also slashed .311/.425/.686 with 131 RBI, 16 stolen bases and a 211 OPS+ for a New York team that reached the American League Championship Series.

Shohei Ohtani, the Angels’ two-way sensation, finished second and received the other first-place votes. Astros designated hitter Yordan Alvarez finished third in the American League.

Judge, appearing on MLB Network, said he felt some jitters heading into Thursday night.

“You’re going up against Yordan Alvarez, one of the top premier hitters in this game. And then Shohei Ohtani, who’s by far one of the best players on this planet,” Judge said. “You never want to assume anything. I was pretty nervous going into this because both of those guys had incredible years, and it’s been fun competing with them over the years.”

Goldschmidt, meanwhile, beat out a pair of third baseman, San Diego’s Manny Machado and teammate Nolan Arenado, after netting 22 of the 30 first-place votes in the National League.

Goldschmidt slashed .317/.404/.578 with 35 home runs, 115 RBI and a 180 OPS+ for a St. Louis squad that lost in the wild card round of the playoffs.

The 35-year-old Goldschmidt’s first MVP Award comes after several near misses. He finished in the top three in voting three different times while he was a member of the Diamondbacks.

“I had a year or two in Arizona that were really good, but even last year, 2021 with St. Louis, I thought that could have been my best year even though those numbers weren’t quite as good as earlier," Goldschmidt said on MLB Network earlier this week. "I was able to keep that going.”